Methods, apparatus and/or system for using email to schedule and/or launch group communications sessions

ABSTRACT

Methods and system for scheduling or launching online and phone sessions between two or more people via email and other electronic communication channels without the requirement for an account with the session service provider when scheduling the session. By including a designated service provider email address in the recipient list of the host&#39;s email or meeting invitation, a user account can be, and in some embodiments is automatically created by the service provider system in response to receipt of such an Email and session invitations are automatically sent to the host and invitees designated in the host&#39;s email or meeting invitation. In this way the host and invites calendars can be automatically updated and populated with session information and information on how to joint the session, e.g., on-line meeting or conference. The Email from the communications provider system can, and in some embodiments does, take the form of an updated invite Email message with the information in the Email from the service provider system updating or replacing information supplied by the original invite from the host.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/063,927 filed Oct. 14, 2014 and U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 62/146,231 filed Apr. 10, 2015 both of whichare hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present application relates to methods and apparatus for using Emailto schedule and/or establish communications sessions supported by aservice provider, e.g., without requiring prior establishment of anaccount with the provider.

BACKGROUND

Internet communications and network communications allow for meetingsand conferences to be scheduled and conducted over networks such as theInternet. While networks such as the Internet may make conducting acommunications session easier from a network perspective, the largernumber of entities that may seek to establish meetings creates thepossibility that a party seeking to establish a communications sessionmay be unknown to the communications device which the party is seekingto use in establishing the communications session.

In addition, a user may want to establish a communications session usingEmails to communicate with potential meeting participants. Thus, aconferencing system may be confronted with the technical problem of howto set up a meeting for a potential host who may be previously unknownto the conferencing system and may be seeking to use one or more Emailsto set up a meeting to be conducted over the Internet or anothercommunications network.

A variety of services exist that enable users to schedule and launchonline meetings and phone conferences, including traditional webconferencing services like Cisco's WebEx and Citrix's GoToMeeting aswell as newer, more consumer-oriented services like Google Hangouts andSkype.

Meeting service providers often require that the party seeking toestablish a communications session and/or session participants holdaccounts with the service provider before the service provider willproceed with setting up a meeting or other session. Thus, Internet basedmeeting services often require that the meeting host have an accountwith the service provider before launching or scheduling such groupsessions.

In addition, enabling hosts to schedule or launch such sessions directlyfrom within their calendars of choice typically requires that a serviceprovider integrate its solution into each major calendar application,and that end users of its service—or often the end users' systemadministrators—install the plug-in that enables the integrated service.

These factors create significant barriers to user adoption of such groupcommunication services and greatly constrain the growth of theconferencing industry.

Know approaches to establish communications sessions fail to address thecommunications centric problem of how and/or whether to establish ameeting for an entity which was previously unknown to the serviceprovider and/or the service providers conferencing system but which maywant to establish a communications session through the use of one ormore Email messages.

To significantly broaden the adoption of group communication services,therefore, there is a need for improvements, which would allow a personor other entity, sometimes referred to as a host, to schedule and launchgroup (2 or more people) online and phone sessions without requiringthat the host have an account with the service provider in advance oflaunching or scheduling the session. There is also the need for theability to launch and/or schedule such sessions directly from within theuser's calendar of choice without a requirement to install additionalsoftware.

In addition, the ability for a user to easily designate the desired typeof group session (e.g. phone conference, online meeting, screen sharing,online presentation, etc.) could further enhance the user experience andwould be desirable if it were possible.

SUMMARY

Communications related methods and apparatus are described. The methodsand apparatus are directed to the communications centric problem of howto establish a meeting, e.g., a conference or multi-party session, via anetwork based conferencing device, without requiring a host or otherparty to have an account with a service provider operating theconference device or preexisting information stored in the conferencingdevice relating to the host or potential conference participants. Themethods and apparatus are particularly well suited to the Internet orother network environments where one or more parties which werepreviously unknown to a conferencing server may contact the conferencingserver via the network, e.g., Internet, to initiate a conference orother network based meeting.

Methods and system for scheduling or launching online and phone sessionsbetween two or more people via email and other electronic communicationchannels without the requirement for an account with the session serviceprovider when scheduling the session are described. By including adesignated service provider email address in the recipient list of thehost's email or meeting invitation, a user account can be, and in someembodiments is, automatically created by the service provider system, inresponse to receipt of such an Email and session invitations areautomatically sent to the host and invitees designated in the host'semail or meeting invitation. In this way the host and invitees calendarscan be automatically updated and populated with session information andinformation on how to joint the session, e.g., on-line meeting orconference. The Email from the communications provider system can, andin some embodiments does, take the form of an updated invite Emailmessage with the information in the Email from the service providersystem updating or replacing information supplied by the original invitefrom the host.

An exemplary method of establishing a communications conference, inaccordance with some embodiments, includes: receiving an Email includinga list of email addresses said list including at least one email addresscorresponding to an intended conference session participant and an Emailaddress of a conference session provider; identifying from a senderEmail address included in the received Email a host of a meeting;determining if the host of the meeting has an account with theconference session provider; and if the host of the meeting does nothave an account with the conference session provider establishing anaccount with the conference session provider.

An exemplary conference system, in accordance with some embodiments,includes: an interface configured to receive an Email including a listof email addresses said list including at least one email addresscorresponding to an intended conference session participant and an Emailaddress of a conference session provider; and a processor configured to:identify from a sender Email address included in the received Email ahost of a meeting; determine if the host of the meeting has an accountwith the session provider; and if the host of the meeting does not havean account with the session provider establish an account with thesession provider.

While various embodiments have been discussed in the summary above, itshould be appreciated that not necessarily all embodiments include thesame features and some of the features described above are not necessarybut can be desirable in some embodiments. Numerous additional features,embodiments, and benefits of various embodiments are discussed in thedetailed description which follows.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system including a host device,recipient devices, a service provider system which can be used tosupport a variety of different types of conferences in accordance withthe present invention which can be established via Email communications.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary service provider system, e.g.,conference system which can be implemented as an audio, video ormultimedia conference server, which can be used in the system of FIG. 1in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary sender/recipient communications devicewhich can be used as the host device used by a host establishing aon-line meeting or other conference or which can be used as a device ofa recipient who may be invited to and join an on line meeting or othertype of conference established using the methods of the invention.

FIG. 4A is a first part of an exemplary flow chart showing stepsperformed by a server or combination of devices, such as by the serviceprovider system shown in FIG. 2, which can be used to set up and/orestablish a conference call or video conference via Emails that can besent as part of the conference set up process.

FIG. 4B is a second part of an exemplary flow chart showing stepsperformed by a server or combination of devices, such as by the serviceprovider system shown in FIG. 2, which can be used to set up and/orestablish a conference call or video conference via Emails that can besent as part of the conference set up process.

FIG. 4 comprises the combination of FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B.

FIG. 5A is a first part of a flowchart of an exemplary method ofestablishing a communications conference in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 5B is a second part of a flowchart of an exemplary method ofestablishing a communications conference in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 5 comprise the combination of FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 in which the methods andapparatus of the present invention are used. The system 100 includes ahost communications device 101 which can send and receive Emails as partof establishing an on-line meeting, telephone conference or othercommunications session. Device 101 is referred to as the hostcommunications device because it corresponds to and is used by a userwhich seeks to initiate a meeting or other communications session withother individuals and act as the host during the meeting. As will bediscussed below, the host communications device 101 sends and receivesEmails through the Email server 102 which is identified as a sender/hostEmail server since it services the host 101. The Email server 102 isalso used to service other devices (112, 114, 116) and can be used tocommunicate Emails to/from potential meeting participants as well as theservice provider system 106. The Email server 111, device 113 and/orserver 115 are in some embodiments implemented in hardware.

Service provider system 106 has one or more Email addresses associatedwith it. When an Email is sent that includes an Email of the serviceprovider system as a recipient address, the Email will be directed tothe service provider system 106. Multiple different Emails may beassociated with the service provider system 106 with the particularEmail address being used to indicate the type of communications sessionto be established as well as to direct the Email to the service providersystem 106. As will be discussed below, an Email initiating a conferenceor on-line meeting may include in a list of recipient Email addresses,Email addresses of the invitees as well as an Email address of theservice provider system. In this way, a user of a host device caninitiate an on-line meeting, phone conference, video conference, etc. bysimply sending an Email directed to the invitees as well as the serviceprovider system.

The service provider system 106 can be, and in some embodiments is,implemented as a combination of an Email server 111 and conferencingdevice or system 113. The service provider system 106 can be, and insome embodiments is, implemented as a device 115, e.g., a serverincluding email and conferencing functionality. The service providersystem 106 includes hardware for receiving and sending Emails as well asfor supporting an on-line communications session, e.g., an on-linemeeting. Thus the service provider system 106 is implemented in someembodiments as a combination of an Email device and conference bridge ormultimedia device which supports on-line conferencing. The serviceprovider system 106 also includes, in some embodiments, hardware and/orsoftware for generating and maintaining customer profiles and/orrecords. The customer profiles/records are stored in the database 110which includes memory for storing the content of the customer profileand/or record along with an interface and/or processor for supportingstorage and data retrieval operations. Thus, the service provider system106 can access and store customer profiles and records. The customerprofile may be part of a customer record which can include billing,usage and/or other information such as demographic information aboutcustomer which can be used for targeting of advertisements in someembodiments. The database 110 may be part of the service provider system106 even though it is shown external thereto.

The service provider system 106 can be implemented using a device 200such as the one shown in FIG. 2 which includes a memory 212 includingvarious modules, a network interface 210, a display 202, input device204 and processor 208. The input device 204 and display 202 are coupledto a bus 209 via an I/O interface 206. The processor 208, the memory212, the I/O interface 206, and the network interface 210 are coupledtogether via the bus 209 over which the various elements (208, 212, 206,210) may interchange data and information. The memory 212 includesvarious modules and/or routines 214, 218, 220, 222, and 224 in additionto customer account information 216. When executed by the processor 208the routines and/or modules (214, 218, 220, 222, 224) cause theprocessor to control the system 200 to implement the steps of the methoddescribed herein. While in FIG. 2 the modules and routines are shown asbeing stored in memory 212, in some embodiments hardware circuits 213are included in the device 200 and used to perform the functionsassociated with the modules/routines and/or to control the apparatus 200as described. The network interface 210 includes a receiver 230 whichcan be used to receive Emails and various signals and a transmitter 232which can be used to send Emails and/or various signals.

Control routines 214 control the operation of device 200. Customeraccount information 216 includes information corresponding to existingand new user accounts. In some embodiments customer account information216 is stored in memory 212. In some embodiments, customer accountinformation 216 is stored in a database external to device 200, e.g.,customer information/conference information database 110 and retrievedby device 200 as needed. Meeting/session scheduling and initiationmodule 218 schedules meeting and session in response to requests fromhost devices. Email processing and generation module 220 processesreceived emails, e.g., a received Email from host device 101, andgenerate response emails, e.g., a response email to the host device anda response email to one or more intended participants in a conference.An exemplary received Email from a host device requesting acommunications session is, e.g., a regular type email or asession/activity invitation type email. A generated response email to ahost indicates information used to establish the communications session.A generated response email to an invitee includes information to allowthe invitee to participate in the communications session. Emailprocessing and generation module 220 is configured to identify types ofemails, e.g., regular or invitation types, identify type of conferences,identify hosts, and identify conference invitees, based on informationincluded in a received Email and/or based on stored information. Thestored information may be included in the memory 212. Exemplary storedinformation included information identifying a key word, e.g. “invite”or key identifier used to indicate an invitation type Email, andinformation mapping different service provider email addresses todifferent types of conferences which may be requested. Meeting/sessionlaunch and management module 222 is configured to support the launch andoperation of a meeting/session, e.g., performing conference bridgingoperation and functions to support the session. Billing module 224 isconfigured to perform billing functions, e.g., establishing new useraccounts, charging a host for a communications session which wasestablished and/or supported via the service provider system.

The conference system 200 can receive, process and send Emails relatingto establishment of an on-line meeting or other communications sessionunder control of module 218 while meeting session launch and managementmodule 222 can be used to establish a multiply communications session.e.g., control bridging of VOIP or other calls or sessions, and maintainthe multi-party communications session for the duration of the meetingor conference.

A host. e.g., device 101, can initiate an on-line or other meeting viaEmail with or without a prior customer record being present in thedatabase 110 with the service provider conference system 200creating/updating customer records as necessary.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary sender or recipient communications device 300.The device 300 may be a cell phone or other communications device fromwhich a host can send and receive Emails relating to on-line or othersession establishment and from which the host may then participate inand host the established session. Participants, e.g., receivers ofinvitations to the session, may also use devices of the type shown inFIG. 3 to be notified of a session and to join a session, e.g., on-linemeeting or conference. The host communications device 101 of system 100of FIG. 1 may be implemented using a device 300 such as the one shown inFIG. 3. A recipient/event participant communications device (112, 114,116) of FIG. 1 may be implemented using a device 300 such as the oneshown in FIG. 3.

The communications device 300 may be a cell phone, other portablecommunications device or a stationary communications device.Communications device 300 includes a memory 312 including variousmodules, a network interface 310, a display 302, input device 304 and aprocessor 306. The display 302, the input device 304, the processor 306,the memory 212, and the network interface 310 are coupled together viathe bus 308 over which the various elements (302, 304, 306, 310, 312)may interchange data and information. The memory 312 includes variousmodules and/or routines 314, 318, and 320, 222, in addition to userinformation 316. When executed by the processor 306 the routines and/ormodules (314, 318, 320) cause the processor 306 to control the device300 to implement the steps of the method described herein. While in FIG.3 the modules and routines are shown as being stored in memory 312, insome embodiments hardware circuits 313 are included in the device 300and used to perform the functions associated with the modules/routinesand/or to control the apparatus 300 as described. The network interface310 includes a receiver 332 which can be used to receive Emails andvarious signals and a transmitter 334 which can be used to send Emailsand/or various signals.

The conference system 200 may support a wide variety of different typesof conferences, e.g., voice, video, multi-media, e.g., using SIPsignaling or various other types of know signaling in addition to theEmail techniques discussed herein.

The current invention directly addresses various shortfalls of existingcommunications devices by enabling a host to launch and schedule onlineand phone sessions directly from within their email andscheduling/calendar tool of choice and without the need for an accountwith the session service provider. In addition, hosts can specify thetype of session they wish to host and the service provider can thencustomize the session to better serve that designated use case.

The methods and apparatus described herein enable an email user toschedule or launch an online or phone session with others by simplyadding a specified session-provider email address (e.g.meet@anymeeting.com, talk@anymeeting.com, share@anymeeting.com,present@anymeeting.com) to the recipient list of any email ormeeting/event invitation. No account with the session provider isrequired in advance.

In addition in some but not necessarily all embodiments, the intendedlaunch time of the session is inferred from the type of email sent bythe host. If the email is a meeting/event invitation as may be indicatedby the presence of the term invitation, invite or some other identifierin the header or the body of the Email used to indicate an invitation,the intended session is presumed to have the start time designated inthe invitation Email, e.g., in the header body or an attachment of theinvitation Email. If it is a regular email, e.g., one that is notdetermined to be an invitation, the intended session is presumed to havean immediate start time.

In some embodiments, the session-provider email address included in therecipient list of the host's email invitation is used to designate thespecific type of session desired. Thus, based on the Email address whichresulted in the Email being routed to a communications system of aservice provider, the service provider can, and in some embodimentsdoes, determine the type of session to be established. For example,meet@anymeeting.com can, and in some embodiments does, designate astandard web conference, talk@anymeeting.com can and in some embodimentsdoes indicate an invitation to a conference call, whileshare@anymeeting.com can be used to indicate and establish a screensharing type of session and present@anymeeting.com can and in someembodiment is used for a one-to-many presentation, such as for a webinaror training session.

The session service provider system, upon receiving such an email fromthe intended session host, also refereed to sometimes as the meeting orconference host, may then perform some or all of the followingfunctions, and does perform some or all of the functions depending onthe particular embodiment:

Create a user account associated with the host's email address if noneyet exists.

Where the received email is a meeting/event invitation, generate anemail response to the host that includes a calendar invitation for thesame date and time specified in the host's invitation and contains themeeting details/instructions/links to launch the session as the host atthe specified date and time. In addition, generate emails with calendarinvitations to each additional invitee designated in the host'sinvitation containing meeting details/instructions/links forparticipants to join the session at the specified date and time.

Where the received email is a regular email, generate a regular emailresponse to the host that includes meeting details/instructions/links toimmediately launch the session as the host. In addition, generate emailsto each additional invitee designated in the host's email that containsmeeting details/instructions/links for participants to immediately jointhe session.

Add the intended session details to the host's new or existing useraccount.

Send the generated emails to the host and all invited participants.

A processor in the communications system can be configured to performthe above operations and/or control another hardware device to performsuch operations.

Note that in various embodiments of the invention, other types of grouponline activities may be triggered, such as the creation of persistentshared workspaces or forums, or the launching of multi-player games, forexample.

Additionally, in various embodiments of the invention, social mediachannels may be used to generate and distribute session invitations. Forexample, a Twitter follower of the session service provider could send adirect message (DM) to the service provider and automatically receive ameeting link that the session host could then retweet to his or herfollowers.

Furthermore, in various embodiments, when other contact points ofsession invitees are known, session invitations may be sent via otherchannels such as SMS, or session invitees may be called directly viadial-out capabilities provided by the service provider.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary flow chart showing the steps of a method 400performed by a server or combination of devices. The method 400 can beimplemented by a conference system 200, e.g., a device including emailand conferencing functionality, such as shown in FIG. 2 or serviceprovider system 106 shown in FIG. 1, which can schedule meetings undercontrol of the meeting and/or session and initiation module 218 andwhich can implement conferences, e.g., telephone or video conferences,at scheduled times using IP communications such as IP telephony or SIPsignaling and/or which can support conference calls via a calls placedvia conventional telephony devices and which are routed to theconference system 200 to be bridged or otherwise connected as part of ascheduled conference. In some embodiments, service provider system 106is implemented as conference system 200, e.g., a device including emailand conferencing functionality. In some embodiments the device includingemail and conferencing functionality is a conference server.

The method 400 begins in start step 402 when the sever 200 is poweredon. In step 404 the server monitors for Emails directed to theconference server 200. As discussed above the Emails may be from hostswith an account on the conference server 200 or without an establishedconference account. In addition, it should be appreciated that Email maybe replies to Emails which were sent by a party to a conference or hostas part of the conference establishment process, e.g., as an invitedconference participate replies to an Email sent to schedule a phone,video or multimedia conference to be implemented using server 200. Asdiscussed above, Emails sent to initiate a conference and/or replies tosuch Emails will normally include an Email corresponding to theconference server 200. For example, an Email sent to establish aconference call may include as a recipient: talk@anymeeting.com, wheretalk@anymeeting.com may be an Email address of the conference server 200which is monitored by the server and to which Emails are sent as part ofestablishing a voice conference call. Monitoring for Emails in step 404occurs on an ongoing basis. As Emails are received and detected by themonitoring, operation proceeds to processing the detected Email. In step406 an Email corresponding to the monitored address is received. Forexample, the received Email is an email invitation from sender A, whichincludes: a email address for the meeting host in the From field, anemail address for at least one invitee, e.g., B Email Address in the Tofield, an a email address corresponding to the conference server, e.g.,C email address where C email address=talk@anymeeting.com, in the Tofield, and may sometimes include one or more E-mail references, e.g.,Email references X, Y, Z. In some embodiments, the received Email mayand sometimes does include “invite” or another key word or indicator inthe header or body of the message if the Email is a invitation typeemail. In some such embodiments, an invitation type email includes astart date and start time for the intended conference in the header, thebody, or an attachment of the email.

Operation proceeds from step 406 to step 408 where the Email beginsbeing processed In step 408 the Email being processed may have thecontents of Emails discussed above which are used to establish aconference call or other type of conference. The Email may include oneor more listed recipients as well as reference information which can beused to identify the conference and/or which indicates the time and typeof conference to which the Email relates. In step 408 the Email ischecked to determine if its contents, e.g., reference informationincluded in the body of the Email, relates to an existing Email thread,e.g., a reply to an earlier conference scheduling Email, or if it doesnot correspond to an existing thread and/or conference which is beingscheduled. In step 410 a determination is made if the Email is part ofan existing Email thread, e.g., if the Email relates to a conference forwhich another Email was previously received. If the answer to thedecision in step 410 is yes, operation proceeds to step 428 in which theconference server 200 updates information stored in memory correspondingto the conference to which the received Email relates. For example,invitee information may be updated to indicate an additional inviteewhich was not included in a previous Email relating to the conferenceand/or other information such as Email addresses or other informationincluded in the Email. Thus, as a user replies to an invitation to aconference to all the parties listed on the original invite Email whichincluded the conference server as a recipient, the conference serverwill learn of the additional invited party and update the conferenceinformation according. Similarly a change in the time or otherscheduling information indicated in a received Email may be reflected inthe information corresponding to the conference that is updated andstored by the conference server

200. In step 430, the conference server generates an email invitation toany new call invitees. The email invitation may include call joindetails for participants for the conference to which the received Emailrelates, e.g., a dial in number and participant pass code. Note thatinvitees who already received such information need not be provided withthe information again and thus step 430 relates to new call invitees butnot previous invitees unless the conference participation informationhas been changed in which all invites may be listed on the generatedEmail so that everyone invited to the conference receives the newinformation.

Operation proceeds from step 430 to step 432. In step 432 hostinformation is updated so that the account corresponding to the host ofthe conference will reflect the new invitees and/or other informationobtained from the received Email. Operation proceeds from step 432, viaconnecting node B 433, to step 424 in which the generated Email(s) aretransmitted.

In step 410 if it is determined that the received Email does notcorrespond to an existing Email thread, e.g., it relates to a newconference information as indicated by the reference informationincluded in the Email not including the reference information for ascheduled conference, operation proceeds from step 410 to step 412. Instep 412 a determination is made as to whether there is a conferencehost account already registered to the party sending the Email, i.e., isthere a conference host account associated with the sender's Email. If ahost account for the sender already exists in the conference serverrecords, operation proceeds from step 412 to step 416. However, if ahost account does not already exist for the party sending the Emailrelating to a new conference, operation proceeds from step 412 to step414. In step 414 a host conference account is automatically created forthe sender of the received Email and associated with the sender's Emailaddress. The account may include the name of the sender and/or otherinformation which may be looked up based on the sender's email address,obtained from the received Email or through other means such as bysending a request for account information to the senders Email addressto which the sender can reply with personal and/or billing information.

Once a host conference account is set up, operation proceeds from step414 to step 416 where the received Email is stored as part of an Emailchain being maintained as part of the conference establishment process.Other Emails received subsequently relating to the same conference maybe, and sometimes are, stored in memory with the previously receivedEmail thereby updating the Email chain relating to a conference andpreserving the information included in the Emails for future referenceand use. Since, in step 416 the storage relates to a new conferencewhich the received Email is the initial Email relating to establishmentof the particular conference, the storage performed in step 416 is inthe form of a new Email thread relating to the conference which is to beestablished.

Operation proceeds from step 416, via connecting node A 417, to 418 inwhich an email invitation is generated and addressed to the sender ofthe received Email providing the sender, e.g., the party initiating theconference, with conference call launch details specific to the host aswell as potentially other information relating to the conference. Forexample, the Email addressed to the sender may provide a host PIN(number) which must be entered to allow the conference participants tobe placed into conference. The Email to the host may also include dialin information, participant information and/or other information whichmay also be provided via separate Email to the participants. Operationproceeds from step 418 to step 420 in which a email invitation to theinvitees is generated. The Email inviting the invitees to the conferencebeing set up includes call join details for the participants and/orother information. For example the Email to the invitees may include adial in number and a participant passcode which is different from thehost passcode. The Email to the invitees may include other informationidentifying the invitees and will normally list Email addressescorresponding to the invites as a destination address. Such addressesmay be and sometimes are obtained from the Email received from the host.The sender Email address of the Email generated by the server anddirected to the host as well as the Email directed to the invitees mayhave a sender address which is an Email address of the conferenceserver.

Operation proceeds form step 420 to step 422 wherein the host'sconference account information is updated to include the informationcorresponding to the scheduled conference including, for example, dialin information, passcode, participants, Email addresses of participants,etc. The host's conference account also includes the Email address ofthe host which can be used to match Emails sent by the host to thehost's conference account. Individual conferences may also be assigned aconference identifier which may be included in the Emails providingconference information to the host and invitees as well as included inthe information stored in the host's account. The conference informationmay and also normally does include date and time information.

Operation proceeds from step 422 to step 424 in which the generatedEmails are sent, e.g., to the host and/or invited parties.

Operation proceeds from step 424 to step 434 in which the server 200 orother device hosts the conference, e.g., by allowing the invited partiesand host to dial in and then bridging the calls. Duration andinformation on the participants, e.g., which invited parties joined thecall, is generated. In step 436, the host's conference accountinformation is updated to included information about the conference thatwas conducted and/or to update billing information corresponding to thehost so that the host is charged for the conference call.

In the above described manner a conference can be easily establishedthrough the use of Email without requiring the host to have apreexisting conference account with the service provider. In additioninvitees and/or other individual to whom Emails are sent as part of theconference call setup procedure with the server receiving the Emails aspart of the replies to invitations and updating conference informationaccordingly. In some but not necessarily all embodiments, when the Emailserver detects an attempt to invite a new party to the conference, thenew party will automatically be supplied with conference participationinformation via Email with the information being redistributed toconference participants who already received the information from theconference server via an earlier Email.

In an exemplary embodiment, host communications device 101 may be, andsometimes is, an existing email client of a service providercorresponding to service provider system 106 including an email serverwith domain name anymeeting.com. Thus, host communications device 101may have an existing account with the service provide, e.g., AnyMeeting.Alternatively, the host communications device 101, may not happen to bean existing client of the service provider and may not have an existingaccount with service provider, e.g., AnyMeeting. In some suchembodiments, an account is created for a new email client as part of theexemplary method of establishing an email conference.

In some embodiments, from an email client, when creating a regular emailor a meeting/event invitation, the sender, e.g., host communicationsdevice 101, includes [activity]@anymeeting.com in the recipient list.Various alternative activities are possible. For example, the hostcommunications device 101 includes one of: meet@ anymeeting.com,talk@anymeeting.com. share@anymeeting.com, or present@anymeeting.com inthe recipient list. In some embodiments, a regular email designates anactivity intended to start immediately, while a meeting/event invitationdesignates an activity to be scheduled for a future time/date.

The service provider system 106 receives and processes the regular emailor meeting invitation from the host device, e.g., host communicationsdevice 101. Based on the activity specified in the anymeeting emailaddress included in the email or meeting/event invitation, e.g., meet,talk, share, present), the service provider system 106 triggers actionsto facilitate the launching and/or scheduling of the specified groupactivity.

In a first example, a host communications device, e.g., hostcommunications device 101, generates and sends a meeting invitationincluding meet@anymeeting.com in the recipient list. The generatedmeeting invitation includes information indicating the meeting is to bescheduled for a future time/date. The service provider system 106receives and processes the meeting invitation. If no AnyMeeting accountexists registered to the sender's email address, the service providersystem 106 creates an AnyMeeting user account for the host. The serviceprovider system 106 generates a meeting/event invitation email to thesender/activity host, e.g., device 101, including online meeting launchdetails specific to the host. The service provider system 106 generatesa meeting/event invitation email to recipients/activity participants,e.g., devices (112, 114, 116) including online meeting join details forthe participants. The service provider system 106 adds the scheduledmeeting to the host's AnyMeeting account. The service provider system106 sends the generated emails.

In a second example, a host communications device. e.g., hostcommunications device 101, generates and sends a regular email includingtalk@anymeeting.com in the recipient list. The generated regular emailincludes information indicating that the designated activity is intendedto start immediately. The service provider system 106 receives andprocesses the regular email. If no AnyMeeting account exists registeredto the sender's email address, the service provider system 106 createsan AnyMeeting user account for the host. The service provider system 106generates an email to meeting/event invitation email to thesender/activity host, e.g., device 101, including audio conferencedetails specific to the host, e.g., dial-in and PIN codes, VoIP link,etc.). The service provider system 106 generates an email torecipients/activity participants, e.g., devices (112, 114, 116)including audio conference join details for the participants. Theservice provider system 106 sends the generated emails.

FIG. 5, comprising the combination of FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, is aflowchart 500 of an exemplary method of establishing a communicationsconference in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. Theexemplary method of flowchart 500 may be performed by service providesystem 106, e.g., a conferencing system and/or service provider system200, e.g., a conferencing system. In some embodiments, service providersystem 106 and/or service provider system 200 is a device, e.g., aserver supporting emails and conferencing. FIG. 5 will now be describedfor an embodiment in which the method is performed by a server includingemail and conferencing functionality; however, it should be appreciatedthe method 500 of FIG. 5 may be, and in some embodiments is performed bya plurality of devices coupled together, e.g., an Email server and aconferencing device, e.g, a conferencing bridge, coupled together.

Operation of the exemplary method starts in step 502, in which theserver including email and conferencing functionality is powered on andinitialized. Operation proceeds from step 502 to step 504. In step 504,the server monitors for emails. Step 504 is performed on an ongoingbasis. Step 504, may and sometimes does, include step 506 in which theserver receives and email including a list of email addresses, said listincluding at least one email address corresponding to an intendedconference session participant and an email address of a conferencesession provider. In some embodiments, the list of email addresses isincluded in a destination address field of said received Email. In somesuch embodiments, the destination address field of the received Email isa To field of the received Email. In some embodiments, the list of emailaddresses is included in a composite of the To Field and the CC field ofthe received Email. Exemplary email addresses corresponding toconference session participants include, e.g., email addressescorresponding to devices (112, 114 and/or 116). The received emailaddress of the conference session provider is, e.g., one of:meet@anymeeting.com, talk@anymeeting.com, share@anymeeting.com, orpresent@anymeeting.com. Operation proceeds from step 506 to step 508.

In step 508 the server identifies from a sender email address includedin the received email a host of a meeting. In some embodiments, theEmail address corresponding to a host seeking to initiate a conferencesession is included in a sender address field of the received Email. Insome such embodiments, the sender address field is a From field of thereceived Email. An exemplary sender email address is an email addresscorresponding to device 101. Operation proceeds from step 508 to step510.

In step 510 the server determines if the host of the meeting has anaccount with the conference session provider. For example, the serverdetermines if there is a conference host account already registered tothe party sending the received Email, i.e., is there a conference hostaccount associated with senders Email address. In various embodiments,the server checks a database, e.g., customer information/conferenceinformation database 110 to make the determination. Operation proceedsfrom step 510 to step 512.

In step 512, if the determination of step 510 is that the host has anaccount with the conference session provider, then operation proceedsfrom step 512 to step 516. However, in step 512, if the determination ofstep 510 is that the host does not have an account with the conferencesession provider, then operation proceeds from step 512 to step 514. Instep 514 the server establishes an account with the conference sessionprovider. In various embodiments, in step 514 a host conference accountis automatically created for the sender of the received Email andassociated with the sender's Email address. The account may include thename of the sender and/or other information which may be looked up basedon the sender's email address, obtained from the received Email orthrough other means such as by sending a request for account informationto the sender's Email address to which the sender can reply withpersonal and/or billing information. Operation proceeds from step 515 tostep 516.

In step 516 the server determines from the email address of theconference session provider the type of session to be initiated. Forexample if the email address of the conference session provider includedin the received Email is: meet@anymeeting.com, the server determinesthat the type of session to be initiated is a web conference typesession. As another example, if the email address of the conferencesession provider included in the received Email is: talk@anymeeting.com,the server determines that the type of session to be initiated is aconference call type session. As another example, if the email addressof the conference session provider included in the received Email is:share@anymeeting.com, the server determines that the type of session tobe initiated is a screen sharing type session. As another example, ifthe email address of the conference session provider included in thereceived Email is: present@anymeeting.com, the server determines thatthe type of session to be initiated is a one-to-may presentation such asfor a webinar or training session. Operation proceeds from step 516, viaconnecting node A 518, to step 520.

In step 520 the server determines from the received email a conferencesession start time. Step 520 includes step 522 and step 524.

In step 522 the server determines the type of email which was received.In some embodiments, there are two types of emails: regular type emailsand meeting/event invitation type emails. In some embodiments, if thereceived Email is a meeting or event type email “invite” or some otheridentifier is included in the header or body of the received Email andused to indicate an invitation. In some such embodiments, the indentedsession is presumed to have the start date and start time designated inthe received invitation type Email, e.g., in the header, body or anattachment of the received invitation type Email. In some embodiments,if it is a regular email, e.g., one that is not determined to be aninvitation type email, the intended session is presumed to have animmediate start time. Thus, in various embodiments, the serverdetermines the type of email based on the results of a search of thereceive Email header and/or body, searching for the word “invite” orsome other marker. In some such embodiments, the search may, andsometimes does further includes a search of the received Email for astart date and/or start time corresponding to the invitation. In somesuch embodiments, the search for the start date and/or start timecorresponding to the invitation includes the header, body andattachments of the received Email.

Operation proceeds from step 522 to step 524. In step 524 the serverdetermines from the type of email which was received whether theconference session to which the email relates is to start at a timeindicated in the email or immediately. Step 524 includes steps 526, 528and 530. In step 526 the server control operation as a function of thetype of email. If the email is not an invitation type of email, thenoperation proceeds from step 526 to 528 in which the server that theconference session to which the received email relates is to startimmediately. If the email is an invitation type of email, e.g., ameeting invitation or event type email including a meeting or eventstart time, then operation proceeds from step 526 to step 530 in whichthe server determines that the conference session to which the emailrelates is to start at a start time indicated in the received email.

Operation proceeds from step 528 to step 532 in which the servergenerates an email response to the host that indicates meeting detailsand instructions and/or links which can be used by the host toimmediately launch the session which allows the meeting to proceed. Theemail response to the host provides the sender, e.g., the partyinitiating the conference, with conference launch details specific tothe host as well as potentially other information relating to theconference. For example, the Email addressed to the sender (host) mayprovide a host PIN (number) which is to be entered to allow theconference participants to be placed in to conference. The responseEmail to the host may also include, e.g., dial in information,participant information and/or other information which may be providedvia separate Email to the participants.

Operation proceeds from step 530 to step 534, in which the servergenerates a response email to the host that includes a calendarinitiation for a date and time specified in the received email which wasfrom a device used by the host. Step 534 includes step 536 in which theserver includes in the response email meeting details and instructionsand/or links which can be used by the host to launch the session at thespecified time. The email response to the host provides the sender,e.g., the party initiating the conference, with conference launchdetails specific to the host as well as potentially other informationrelating to the conference. For example, the Email addressed to thesender (host) may provide a host PIN (number) which is to be entered toallow the conference participants to be placed in to conference. Theresponse Email to the host may also include, e.g., dial in information,participant information and/or other information which may be providedvia separate Email to the participants.

Operation proceeds from step 532 or step 534 to step 538. In step 538the server adds session details to the created account for the host whena new account is created in response to the received email or addssession details to an existing account for the host when an account forthe host exists at the time of the received email. Operation proceedsfrom step 538 to step 540.

In step 540 the server determines email addresses of the intendedparticipants from the email address list to which the received email wasdirected. Operation proceeds from step 540 to step 542 in which theserver generates an email(s) to one or more participants informing theintended participants how to join the meeting and the intended starttime of the meeting. For example, the join information may include,e.g., a dial in number for a conference call, a participant pass codewhich is different from a host passcode, etc. The email to the inviteesmay include other information identifying the invitees and will normallylist Email addresses corresponding to the invitees as a destinationaddress. Such addresses may be, and sometimes are obtained from theEmail received from the host. The sender email address of the Emailgenerated by the server and directed to the invites may have a senderaddress which is an Email address of the conference server. In someembodiments, the same email is send to each of the intendedparticipants. In some embodiments, a different email is sent to at leastsome different participants. In some such embodiments, the emailaddresses of at least some participants are not made known to at leastsome other participants.

Operation proceeds from step 542 to step 544. In step 544 the serversends the response email to the device used by the host. If the responseemail was generated in step 534, in step 544 the server sends theresponse email to the device used by the host to trigger updating of acalendar maintained by the host device to include the meetinginvitation.

Operation proceeds from step 544 to step 546, in which the servertransmits via email information to one or more participants informationinforming the intended participants how to join the meeting and thestart time of the meeting. Thus in step 546 the server sends theresponse email(s) generated in step 542 to the intended participants.

An exemplary conference system 200, in accordance with some embodimentsincludes: an interface 210 configured to receive an Email including alist of email addresses said list including at least one email addresscorresponding to an intended conference session participant and an Emailaddress of a conference session provider; and a processor 208 configuredto: identify from a sender Email address included in the received Emaila host of a meeting; determine if the host of the meeting has an accountwith the conference session provider; and if the host of the meetingdoes not have an account with the session provider establish an accountwith the conference session provider.

In some embodiments, said list of email addresses is included in adestination address field of said received Email, and an Email addresscorresponding to a host seeking to initiate a conference session isincluded in a sender address field of said received Email. In some suchembodiments, the destination address field is a To field and whereinsaid sender address field is a From field.

In various embodiments, the processor 208 is further configured todetermine from the Email address of the conference session provider thetype of session to be initiated.

In some embodiment, the processor 208 is configured to determine fromthe Email a conference session start time. In some such embodiments theprocessor 208 is configured to: determine the type of Email which wasreceived and determine from the type of Email whether a conferencesession to which the received Email relates is to start at a timeindicated in the Email or immediately, as part of being configured todetermine the conference session start time.

In some embodiments, the processor 208 is configured to determine theconference session to which the received Email relates is to startimmediately when the Email is not an invitation type of Email as part ofbeing configured to determine from the type of Email whether theconference session to which the received Email relates is to start at atime indicated in the Email or immediately. In various embodiments, theprocessor 208 is configured to determine the conference session to whichthe received Email relates is to start at a start time indicated in thereceived Email when the received Email is a meeting invitation or eventinvitation Email including a meeting or event start time as part ofbeing configured to determine from the type of Email whether theconference session to which the received Email relates is to start at atime indicated in the Email or immediately.

In various embodiments, processor 208 is configured to: generate aresponse Email to the host that includes a calendar invitation for adate and time specified in the received Email which was from a deviceused by the host; and send the response Email to the device used by thehost to trigger updating of a calendar maintained by the host device toinclude the meeting information.

In some embodiments, processor 208 is configured to generate an Emailresponse to the host that includes meeting details and instructions orlinks which can be used by the host to immediately launch the sessionwhich allows the meeting to proceed when the Email is not an invitationEmail.

In various embodiments, processor 208 is configured to add sessiondetails to the created account for the host when a new account iscreated in response to the received Email or adding the session detailsto an existing account for the host when an account for the host existsat the time of the received Email.

In various embodiments, processor 208 is configured to transmit viaEmail information to one or more intended participants informing theintended participants how to join the meeting and the start time of themeeting. In some such embodiments, processor 208 is configured determineEmail addresses of the intended participants from the Email address listto which the received Email was directed, prior to transmittinginformation to one or more participating informing the intendedparticipants how to join the meeting.

From the above discussion it should be appreciated that numerousvariations and embodiments are possible.

The techniques of various embodiments may be implemented using software,hardware and/or a combination of software and hardware. In someembodiments modules are implemented fully as hardware, e.g., ascircuits. In some embodiments a circuit is provided for each module.Various embodiments are directed to apparatus, e.g., servers, nodes,computers, etc. Various embodiments are also directed to methods, e.g.,methods of performing risk checking. Various embodiments are alsodirected to non-transitory machine, e.g., computer, readable medium,e.g., ROM, RAM, CDs, hard discs, etc., which include machine readableinstructions for controlling a machine to implement one or more steps ofa method.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in theprocesses disclosed is an example of exemplary approaches. Based upondesign preferences, it is understood that the specific order orhierarchy of steps in the processes may be rearranged while remainingwithin the scope of the present disclosure. The accompanying methodclaims present elements of the various steps in a sample order, and arenot meant to be limited to the specific order or hierarchy presented.

In various embodiments servers/nodes described herein are implementedusing one or more modules to perform the steps corresponding to one ormore methods, for example, signal receiving, processing, generationand/or transmission steps. Thus, in some embodiments various featuresare implemented using modules. Such modules may be implemented usingsoftware, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Thus, inat least some embodiments the modules are hardware modules. Many of theabove described methods or method steps can be implemented usingmachine, e.g., computer, executable instructions, such as software,included in a machine readable medium such as a memory device, e.g.,RAM, floppy disk, etc. to control a machine, e.g., general purposecomputer with or without additional hardware, to implement all orportions of the above described methods, e.g., in one or more nodes.Accordingly, among other things, various embodiments are directed to amachine-readable medium including machine executable instructions forcausing a machine, e.g., processor and associated hardware, to performone or more of the steps of the above-described method(s). Someembodiments are directed to a device, e.g., control node, including aprocessor configured to implement one, multiple or all of the steps ofone or more methods of the invention.

In some embodiments, the processor or processors, e.g., CPUs, of one ormore devices, e.g., server or other node, are configured to perform oneor more of the steps of the methods described herein. The configurationof the processor may be achieved by using one or more modules, e.g.,software modules, to control processor configuration and/or by includinghardware in the processor, e.g., hardware modules, to perform therecited steps and/or control processor configuration. Accordingly, somebut not all embodiments are directed to a device, e.g., a server, with aprocessor which includes a module corresponding to each of the steps ofthe various described methods performed by the device in which theprocessor is included. In some but not all embodiments, a device, e.g.,a server, includes a module corresponding to each of the steps of thevarious described methods performed by the device in which the processoris included. The modules may be implemented using software and/orhardware.

Some embodiments are directed to a computer program product comprising anon-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code for causing acomputer, or multiple computers, to implement various functions, steps,acts and/or operations, e.g. one or more steps described above.Depending on the embodiment, the computer program product can, andsometimes does, include different code for each step to be performed.Thus, the computer program product may, and sometimes does, include codefor each individual step of a method, e.g., a method of controlling anode. The code may be in the form of machine, e.g., computer, executableinstructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium such asa RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory) or other type ofstorage device. In addition to being directed to a computer programproduct, some embodiments are directed to a processor configured toimplement one or more of the various functions, steps, acts and/oroperations of one or more methods described above. Accordingly, someembodiments are directed to a processor, e.g., CPU, configured toimplement some or all of the steps of the methods described herein. Theprocessor may be for use in, e.g., a communications device, controldevice or other device described in the present application.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, at a serverwithin a communication service provider system, a first communicationfrom a first communications device, the first communication containingan identification of a sender of the first communication and one or moreidentifications of recipients of the first communication, thecommunication further containing a subject field and a body; scanningthe body of the first communication for one or more keywords containedin the first communication to determine that the first communicationcontains an invitation to participate in an event; determining that thebody of the first communication contains a start date and start time; inresponse to the determining that the body of the first communicationcontains a start date and start time, automatically setting up an eventwith the start date and start time, the automatically setting upincluding: sending a first calendar invitation to the sender of thefirst communication, the first calendar invitation identifying thesender as a host of the event and including details specific tolaunching the event; and sending a second calendar invitation to the oneor more recipients of the first communication, the second calendarinvitation being different from the first calendar invitation andidentifying the one or more recipients as attendees of the event, thesecond calendar invitation not including the details specific tolaunching the event.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:automatically storing a reference chain associated with the firstcommunication along with the sender identification and the one or morerecipient identifications in a thread store, the reference chainincluding one or more communications pertaining to the event.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the event is an online event.
 4. The methodof claim 1, wherein the event is a conference call.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first communication further includes anidentification of the communication service provider system.
 6. Themethod of claim 2, further comprising: receiving, at the server, asecond communication from a second communications device, the secondcommunication containing a sender identification and one or morerecipient identifications; determining that the second communication ispart of an existing communication thread by searching the thread storefor a matching reference chain; in response to the determining that thesecond communication is part of an existing communication thread, addingany recipient identifications in the second communication that were notlisted as recipient identifications in the first communication to thestored recipient identifications in the thread store; generating, usinginformation from the second communication, one or more additionalinvitee invitation communications for any recipient identification inthe second communication that was not listed as a recipientidentification in the first communication; and sending the one or moreadditional invitee invitation communications to the one or morerecipient identifications in the second communication.
 7. A systemcomprising: one or more computer processors; and a non-transitorycomputer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the system to: receive, ata server within a communication service provider system, a firstcommunication from a first communications device, the firstcommunication containing an identification of a sender of the firstcommunication and one or more identifications of recipients of the firstcommunication, the communication further containing a subject field anda body; scan the body of the first communication for one or morekeywords contained in the first communication to determine that thefirst communication contains an invitation to participate in an event;determine that the body of the first communication contains a start dateand start time; in response to the determining that the body of thefirst communication contains a start date and start time, automaticallyset up an event with the start date and start time, the automaticallysetting up including: sending a first calendar invitation to the senderof the first communication, the first calendar invitation identifyingthe sender as a host of the event and including details specific tolaunching the event; and sending a second calendar invitation to the oneor more recipients of the first communication, the second calendarinvitation being different from the first calendar invitation andidentifying the one or more recipients as attendees of the event, thesecond calendar invitation not including the details specific tolaunching the event.
 8. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the system to: automatically store a reference chainassociated with the first communication along with the senderidentification and the one or more recipient identifications in a threadstore, the reference chain including one or more communicationspertaining to the event.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein the event isan online event.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein the event is aconference call.
 11. The system of claim 7, wherein the firstcommunication further includes an identification of the communicationservice provider system.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein theinstructions further cause the system to: receive, at the server, asecond communication from a second communications device, the secondcommunication containing a sender identification and one or morerecipient identifications; determine that the second communication ispart of an existing communication thread by, searching the thread storefor a matching reference chain; in response to the determining that thesecond communication is part of an existing communication thread, addany recipient identifications in the second communication that were notlisted as recipient identifications in the first communication to thestored recipient identifications in the thread store; generate, usinginformation from the second communication, one or more additionalinvitee invitation communications for any recipient identification inthe second communication that was not listed as a recipientidentification in the first communication; and send the one or moreadditional invitee invitation communications to the one or morerecipient identifications in the second communication.
 13. Anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructionswhich, when implemented by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform operations comprising: receiving, at a serverwithin a communication service provider system, a first communicationfrom a first communications device, the first communication containingan identification of a sender of the first communication and one or moreidentifications of recipients of the first communication, thecommunication further containing a subject field and a body; scanningthe body of the first communication for one or more keywords containedin the first communication to determine that the first communicationcontains an invitation to participate in an event; determining that thebody of the first communication contains a start date and start time; inresponse to the determining that the body of the first communicationcontains a start date and start time, automatically setting up an eventwith the start date and start time, the automatically setting upincluding: sending a first calendar invitation to the sender of thefirst communication, the first calendar invitation identifying thesender as a host of the event and including details specific tolaunching the event; and sending a second calendar invitation to the oneor more recipients of the first communication, the second calendarinvitation being different from the first calendar invitation andidentifying the one or more recipients as attendees of the event, thesecond calendar invitation not including the details specific tolaunching the event.
 14. The non-transitory machine-readable storagemedium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:automatically storing a reference chain associated with the firstcommunication along with the sender identification and the one or morerecipient identifications in a thread store, the reference chainincluding one or more communications pertaining to the event.
 15. Thenon-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein theevent is an online event.
 16. The non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium of claim 5, wherein the event is a conference call. 17.The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, whereinthe first communication further includes an identification of thecommunication service provider system.